


all the things she said

by nordic_hetalian



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, Friendship & Romance, High School AU, denmark is the lovable goofball he is, developing feelings, i first started this in november...big oof, inspired by a song, literally the only main ship here is hun/ukr, oh yeah and prussia's a dick, platonic robul, romania is a (terrible) matchmaker, slight czechoslovakia, slight edelweiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-04-12 01:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19121518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nordic_hetalian/pseuds/nordic_hetalian
Summary: Erzsébet and Iryna are best friends navigating the terrible life that is high school. They're tied together via their group of friends, including a Romanian who may just like matchmaking a little too much. One fateful night leads to Iryna discovering her undying love for Erzsébet. Little does she know what Erzsébet thinks of that...Even so, they have to keep their newfound feelings under wraps if they want to survive the high school hierarchy.[Hungary/Ukraine, platonic Romania/Bulgaria, mentions of Czech/Slovakia and Edelweiss.][Human/Gakuen AU. Inspired by the song by t.A.T.u. of the same name.]





	1. The Continuum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erzsébet gets teased over supposedly liking a boy, much to her chagrin. And her frenemy is not liking that one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "fanon" human names for this chapter are as follows:
> 
> Erzsébet Hedérvary - Hungary  
> Iryna Chernenko - Ukraine  
> Vlad Popescu - Romania  
> Dimitri Mladenov - Bulgaria  
> Petra Kysely - Czechia  
> Štefan Pozorný - Slovakia  
> Vuk Mišić - Serbia (OC belongs to Tix91)
> 
> The other canonical names should be pretty obvious: Gilbert is Prussia, Roderich is Austria, and Vasch is Switzerland.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hetalia, nor the song "All the Things She Said" that this fic is inspired by. They belong to Hidekaz Himaruya and t.A.T.u., respectively. But you knew that already, right?

One would obviously expect a bunch of high school students to be perfectly behaved during study hall. To be more specific, they're a particularly large group of 16-year-olds shoved into the school's gymnasium for one hour. They all study for tests and do their homework quietly like the good little children they are. Right?

 

That would be a damn funny joke. Of course that's not right.

 

The teenagers wouldn't go so far as to, say, burn down the school - there were monitors present, anyway - but it was close. Paper airplanes flying every which way, pockets of conversation turning into loud laughter, boys playing basketball with their friends, attempting to impress the few girls present. Chaotic, to say the least. The poor monitors were trying to keep them all wrangled, but it was no use.

 

A sharp contrast, though, were the few kids who were trying to get a head start on their work. Almost all of those kids were girls, but a handful of boys were there, too. It was obvious they were part of well-behaved families who certainly did _not_ accept frivolity occurring all around them.

 

Erzsébet was one of said girls, much to the annoyance of one of the basketball boys, Gilbert Beilschmidt. She honestly couldn't stand the guy, and she thought she had made that pretty obvious, but of course that wasn't the case. All she wanted was a break from his shenanigans.

 

She tried to ignore him and attempted to block out all the noise (which was a lost cause from the start, anyway) by turning on her favorite hard rock playlist. Finally she could study in peace. Her pencil scratched her flash cards to fill in the blanks in her mind for her English test, and was actually starting to make good progress. The key word here being "starting", because…

 

"Hey, Erzsi, what do you think about this dress?"

 

"Iryna, please shut up. I'm trying to study for English." 

 

"Seriously?" the tall blonde, who had just been named "Iryna", teased playfully. "Didn't you study for over three hours last night? I think you've studied enough for that test."

 

"My deepest apologies, Iryna, for actually wanting to get an A in English this semester," Erzsébet said, frustration dripping from her words. Didn't she understand? Vocab was a hard subject for her (when would she ever need to know the meaning of "cognizant", anyway?) and here Iryna was, trying to tear her away. What nerve.

 

"I'm just trying to help," she offered. 

 

"She's right, Erzsi," her best frenemy, Vlad, piped up from a few feet away. "I'm pretty sure you were texting me last night complaining about how you had been 'studying since 5:30 and still weren't done'. Also, Iryna, that dress looks beautiful. Please buy it ASAP."

 

Iryna beamed as she excitedly tapped the website's "add to cart" button. "See? Vlad gets it. Live your life a little."

 

"Since when have you liked–" Erzsébet looked up for the first time to take a good look at the dress Iryna was going gaga over, "–black dresses with lace and a slit on the thigh? You don't even care that much about clothes, much less lacy dresses."

 

"I need to look elegant for the dance next month, don't I? The best dress I have as of today is that ugly green velvet dress. I've had that thing since I was eleven!"

 

"Think, lady! The continuum! This new thing is way beyond your prime."

 

"It's called a 'continuum' because you can fall anywhere inside its lines. It's different than, like, a chart where your data is more specific. So that means I can still be a 'Cinnamon Roll' and also be a bit of a 'Rich'... well, you know the word."

 

Erzsébet couldn't help but smile at that. She was still amazed at how innocent her friend could be, even at age 16. Erzsi herself had nothing short of a potty mouth, while Iryna still apologized to an upper being after saying "crap". She wouldn't admit it for the sake of her own embarrassment, but it was damn adorable. In fact, Iryna in general was damn adorable at times.

 

The duo had created what they affectionately called the "sociable continuum" when they were freshmen so they could try to figure out all the people at World X Academy. It had seemed simple enough at the time, but it was manufactured to be difficult at times, mostly due to one or both of them forgetting what a continuum was.

 

"Speaking of which, I reserved a spot on the Rags-or-Riches diagram for the hot new German transfer kid, who I totally ship you with," the Ukrainian responded with a wink.

 

"Except Roderich is Austrian. And he is _not_ my boyfriend!" Erzsébet screeched, causing more than a few heads to turn their way.

 

Call her a hypocrite, but while she liked shipping her friends or characters from a TV show she liked, she did not like it when people shipped her. She had already been the victim of ErzsBert, Vladzsébet (despite her blatant, off-and-on dislike of the Romanian), and now ErzseRich. Those were the only ones she knew existed; Šterzsébet and Dimizsébet had probably existed since middle school without her knowledge.

 

She really hated being friends with so many boys sometimes. If Erzsryna and/or Petzsébet existed, too, she might just go out and kill-zsébet someone…

 

"Mm. Sure he isn't." Scratch the whole "innocence" and "naïvety" thing Iryna had going. Erzsi had never realized before how well her friend could pull off sarcasm, but here she was, her words drenched with it.

 

"The continuum is editable, you know. I could move you to the worst sides at any point."

 

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Vlad, who was eavesdropping on all of this, was snickering at this point. Erzsébet turned and gave him what she thought was a death glare, but either he didn't catch it or he was just ignoring her. "The point is, I'm adding Roderich to the Rich...dog side of the Rags-or-Riches diagram." (Despite her annoyance, Erzsi couldn't help but snicker alongside Vlad here.) "I asked Vasch about it, and he said Roderich's family is pretty rich. They just moved here from Vienna."

 

"Sexy." For the first time since Iryna had interrupted her, Erzsébet set aside her vocab list and whisked it away into her book bag. This change of heart was met by a happy grin from her friend.

 

Seeing her friend with that huge smile made something flash through Erzsébet's heart in a split second, something she couldn't quite put a finger on. Whatever it was, it made her want to move Iryna to the "Cutie" side of the Hotness scale.

 

Of course it had to be Vlad who interrupted this moment of hers. "How rich is he? Are you talking, like, Bonnefoy-rich or Mišić-rich?"

 

Iryna giggled. Vlad's Serbian friend was not poor, per se, but it always seemed like he was complaining about his family being "ass at saving money" (his words). "Definitely more Bonnefoy-rich. Vasch says he went to Roderich's house for some project in their German class and that's how he knows. He was hesitant to tell me anything at all, actually, but I told him it was for a good cause."

 

"I'm sure he definitely believed that," said Dimitri sarcastically, chiming into the conversation for the first time. It was becoming apparent that sarcasm was a major theme in this conversation. "Vasch is just the most free-speaking kid in the 11th grade who is very gullible and believes anything anyone tells him."

 

"Of course!" Iryna responded in a tone in which Erzsébet couldn't immediately tell if she was being sarcastic again or if she was being serious.

 

Suddenly the flash was gone and all Erzsébet wanted to do was go find Roderich and apologize for all the "he's not my boyfriend"s she had claimed in the two weeks he had been at WXA. She still didn't want to be with the guy, but the least they could do is have an intelligent conversation about it…

 

"I think Erzsi has gone into a romantic coma over there," said Vlad while smirking, causing Iryna to start giggling once more. "Your shipping of her and Roderich has gotten to her head. Better him than Gilbert, I guess."

 

" _Nyasgem,_ Vlad," growled a flustered Erzsébet. 

 

"Oh, I'm—" the brunette boy started to threaten, but lucky her was saved by the bell. Before any of them could blink an eye, she had already bolted out the door in search of her Pre-Calc class. 

 

☆ ☆ ☆

 

"She's clearly getting Gilbert vibes from you, loser," Dimitri pointed out, ripping his earbuds from his ears as he packed up. Iryna had already left, along with most of the other kids. Now it was just them and a few leftover stragglers.

 

"Well, no shit," said Vlad, rolling his eyes. "She's gotta have some crush though. Who it is is another mystery entirely. I need answers!" 

 

Dimitri gave him an annoyed side-stare that clearly said "whatever you're thinking of doing, Vlad, please don't even try, for the love of God". Vlad, being the person he was, chose to ignore it. A plan was already starting to form in his mind — a perfect one, at that! 

 

"Erzsi should make a new diagram on that continuum of hers devoted entirely for master planners," he told his best friend (of sorts) pretentiously.

 

Dimitri rolled his eyes as the two walked out of the gym. "Oh sweet Jesus. What are you gonna do this time? Attempt to recreate one of the spells from Harry Potter? Scare Roderich enough with your fangs so he can force-feed you info? Break into Erzsi's house at 2 AM?"

 

"To be fair, I had permission from her to break into her house at 2 AM," said Vlad. "God, how creepy do you think I am?"

 

 _Extremely,_ the Bulgarian thought bitterly.

 

"No, no, no. I'll show Erzsi the best fucking time of her life and hopefully she'll be on Cloud 9, so she can confess her undying love that way."

 

"Way to be specific on your 'master plan'." Call Dimi a bitch, but not only was he stressed out and sleep-deprived, but his friend could just be flat-out _unbearable_ sometimes. Perhaps it was a formula for a toxic friendship but somehow it all worked out in the end.

 

"Hey, I'm still working out the specifics here!" Suddenly the warning bell rung for third hour. "Well, see you at lunch. You'll figure it all out by the end!" Then he ran off to class.

 

Dimitri didn't even have time to react. He really didn't understand Vlad at all sometimes.

 

What was he supposed to do now? He could warn Erzsi, but since Vlad had just given him the goddamn skeleton of his "plan", he probably couldn't do much about it. Or maybe he could try confronting Roderich and just tell him. But not only did he not even know the guy at all, she'd probably get bitter at him for the better part of a week or so. Not to mention he didn't share any classes with him anyway.

 

So he was just going to have to wait before planning his next move. It wasn't the sort of thing that Dimitri Mladenov liked doing, but it had to happen for now.

 

One glance at the clock was all it took to get Dimitri walking again. He didn't want to be late to class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Nyasgem - fuck off (Hungarian) 
> 
> So there we go. The first chapter of my first story on AO3. I'm strangely proud of it?? Like, it's probably gonna be really cliché since it's a high school fic, and a few characters will probably be OOC here and there. But I kinda like it. A lot.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate your time greatly.


	2. Among Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iryna develops a friendship with a girl in her science class and notes the closeness in their friend group, all while lamenting over a certain someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few more names to throw out there:
> 
> Mr. Smith - 2P America (Think of him as a more serious America, not a murderous one like some of the fandom portrays him as.)  
> Emma Jansen - Belgium  
> Lars Jansen - Netherlands  
> Mathias Køhler - Denmark  
> Jett Wilson - Australia  
> Amelia Jones - Nyo! America  
> Sebastién Jansen - Luxembourg 
> 
> Again, most canonical names are pretty obvious. Kiku is Japan, Feliks is Poland, and Mei is Taiwan.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hetalia, nor the song "All the Things She Said" that this fic is inspired by. They belong to Hidekaz Himaruya and t.A.T.u., respectively. But you knew that already, right?

Iryna sometimes wished that Erzsébet wasn't so defensive of herself. Ever since the two had met back in 1st grade, Erzsi had managed to worm her way out of so many situations. While it was admirable how strong she was, what was not admirable was how much she could overreact about certain things if it meant she leaves the situation scot-free.

The incident from study hall definitely fell into the latter category.

The moment Iryna had walked out of the trashed gym, she felt the wave of guilt hit her like a tsunami. Erzsi had clearly not taken their jokes well. Now she would probably hate her forever, or at least that's what her hormone-loaded brain believed. 

The good news was that they had separate third-period classes, so perhaps Erzsi could lodge the memory into the back of her brain over the course of the next hour, never to be brought up over the lunch table or a sleepover ever again.

Without warning, the bell rang, and with it came a clearing of Iryna's memory. Not completely, but enough to forget what went down with Erzsébet. A new, fresh start, like when you brush your teeth and all the bad stuff is washed away. That's when Iryna started to wonder if she was overthinking that Erzsébet was overthinking. 

Mr. Smith, the chemistry teacher, set down his grading pen before strolling to the front of the class to begin that day's lesson. "Alright, good afternoon. Let's settle down now. We're a bit behind on our next lab, so we'll start right away, once everyone is quiet."

Of course that didn't work. Everyone was still chattering away, whether it was about the latest gossip or some stupid joke or the fact that _Mr. Smith is just so boring and why won't he let us talk?_

"I like the way Iryna and Kiku are being quiet and respectful," Mr. Smith called out. Yes, that had to be it. She was not a skipper or a druggie or anywhere in between. She was just a good person, one who didn't try embarrassing her best friend in public. That's what she liked to believe.

Finally the class settled down. "Good. Now, I'm assuming you grabbed the white packet as you walked in, so let's open to the first page..."

Iryna found herself zoning out as Mr. Smith explained the lab they were doing for the rest of the week. Hopefully her future lab partner was listening because she certainly wasn't. Being a straight-A student didn't automatically mean you listened to the teacher's every word in class. Just pick up a few important words here and there and you should be fine. Iryna was most definitely aware that this was likely not the best way to go about things, but it wasn't exactly her fault that Mr. Smith's class was boring.

She only started paying attention when she heard the class stir around her. Now he was pulling Popsicle sticks out of a cup to determine lab partners. 

"Mathias... and Jett, please go over to lab station #5."

That was a disaster waiting to happen. Both boys were always being nominated for class clown year after year, and when one throws in their obnoxiously loud personalities, she had a sinking feeling one (or both) of them would end up causing an explosion in class one day and cause Mr. Smith to use that huge fire blanket he was so protective over.

Protective. Just like someone else she knew...

"Emma... and Iryna. Please go to lab station 7."

Her name drove her out of thought. She looked around the room and locked eyes with the smart, perky redhead. When they did, the other girl her gave a warm smile.

The two girls walked over to their designated lab station. They were quiet for a few minutes until they heard Jett yell out. "Aye, Mathias! Don't ya need to pour in the green stuff first?"

"No! The instructions clearly say not to!" the Dane yelled back. "We need to pour the yellow stuff first, ya bucko!"

Emma snorted as the two bickered away. "Well, aren't they funny ones."

"Right?" Iryna laughed as she wrapped a pair of plastic safety goggles around her eyes. "I'm still waiting for the day they blow up the school."

"No kidding. My older brother – he's a senior – said that two kids in his chemistry class did start a fire last year." Emma's green eyes gleamed from the memory. "Remember that one fire drill we had that took forever? Yeah, that wasn't a drill."

"Who was it?" Iryna then noted that neither Mathias nor Jett were wearing safety goggles. No real shock there, but she was amused at their stupidity.

"Dunno. He didn't tell me. Though apparently–" Emma leaned over the table to whisper in her partner's ear,  
"–they also pulled the fire alarm as a prank back when we were in 5th grade. He said they all nearly got expelled!" 

"How do you even get expelled in 5th grade, anyway?"

"Don't ask me!"

That's how the two formed their friendship, over the stupidity of two supposed teenage boys. Emma ended up doing most of the work they did that day – which was totally fine by Iryna, since she hadn't the slightest clue about how to do chemistry. It was to Iryna what English vocab was to Erzsi. Which in turn gave her PTSD from the whole "Austrian boyfriend" incident from last hour. Which then seeded its way into thinking about Erzsébet.

Thought trains like this were plaguing her mind a lot lately. Yes, she was contrite about harassing her about Roderich today, but beyond that, she knew it had been this way for a while. Maybe it would be good for them to have a quick break. 

"Yo, Iryna, check them out now." Emma's sweet voice chimed into her thoughts like a birdsong. She was nudging her head towards the two losers. Mathias was pretending to pour a beaker of bright yellow acid into his mouth, much to the joy of Jett, who probably thought it was the funniest thing since sliced bread.

"Good lord, Erzsi," Iryna mumbled. Then she blushed before correcting herself. "Ah, sorry! I meant Emma!" ( _Please kill me,_ she thought to herself.) "They should not be working with acid with their IQ levels," she added quickly.

"Agreed," Emma said. "Anyway, let's keep going. So, Lars always annoys the living shit out of me, but I guess that's what big brothers are supposed to do, right? I'm pretty sure he's a stoner but he'd never tell Mom since she probably wouldn't for pay his tuition next year."

Iryna laughed as she poured in some pink acid. Emma hadn't noticed her slip-up, much to her enjoyment. Could she sense she was worried about something? She guessed probably, but she was feeling better for some reason. Maybe it was this conversation that was distracting her.

Finally, the bell rang. The two waved goodbye to each other. "See you tomorrow!" Emma called out cheerfully as they parted ways.

 _Hope to see you too,_ Iryna thought.

…

"Ew, didn't they just have lasagna yesterday?" Vlad complained in disgust. "Wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was just leftovers. That shit is _nasty_."

"Aw, c'mon," Štefan argued. "I'm sure there's much worse lasagna out there. I mean, once I went to this crappy place down in Monterey and I swear, the food they had there was like those fake plastic toys they always sell to kids. It ruined pizza for me forever."

"You don't like pizza?" Petra slid into the seat next to him. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to break up with you. I require a boyfriend who likes pizza."

Iryna smiled, shaking her head in mock annoyance. She loved her friends with all her heart, no matter how stupid or obnoxious they could be. She had a firm belief that no matter what group you're in, it's the amount of people you have at your lunch table that determines how strong your friend group is. On a normal day, 6 of the 8 seats at their table were filled. They weren't popular, but anyone could see how tight-knit they were. Life in their group was always fun and good.

Speaking of, she noticed that of the 6 people at the table, one was currently absent. The girl she had been pining over for an hour.

Never mind. Here she was, in the nick of time.

"Hey, losers!" Erzsébet proceeded to flip her long hair majestically and sit down in the chair next to Iryna, no English textbook in sight.

"Ooh, sexy," said Vlad suggestively before immediately getting his arm smacked by Dimitri. "What? That was pretty hot, not even gonna lie. Wasn't it? Right? Riiiight?"

"Why do I even hang out with you?" Dimitri moaned, though Iryna could tell he was trying not to smile.

"So, Erzsi. About study hall," started Iryna cautiously. How was she supposed to phrase this? _I am oh so sorry for all my woes please forgive me mighty one?_ Or should she go down the more serious route and say _Sorry about that, I should've known better?_

"Oh, please. I know you're gonna apologize to me," her friend teased. "It's totally fine. I was just annoyed, is all. You're chill. All's fair in love and war."

"What about love?" Štefan asked while chomping away on what Iryna believed was the world's biggest baby carrot.

Erzsébet smirked. "Ah, yes, Štefan Pozorný, the man who doesn't know a thing about love. What a pity. Especially considering that his girlfriend is literally sitting right next to him, but yes. Love is a mysterious thing, indeed."

"Touché. Who are you, Shakespeare?"

"Yes, obviously. It's not like he died 400 years ago or anything." 

Iryna had to laugh, despite still feeling a bit weird about study hall. It wasn't entirely her fault, she guessed. It was partially (actually, mostly) Vlad, anyway, and maybe even Gilbert was a tiny part of it all. If Erzsi was letting it go, perhaps she should, too.

 _It could've been worse_ , she noted silently. As she looked around the lunchroom, she found no fewer than 4 tables having an argument over something. That wasn't too surprising because 3 of said tables were filled to the brim with popular kids, and it was common knowledge around school that none of them really liked each other anyway. Her friends actually could stand each other like your average, healthy group. 

"So, did y'all hear the big news?" Of course it had to be Erzsébet's voice that woke her up. 

" 'Bout what? If it's about the goddamn Beilschmidt stud, I'm gonna projectile vomit all over you," Petra complained, causing Štefan to lean away, disgusted.

"Nah. I'd already be projectile vomiting it was about him." Iryna somehow thought that that was the funniest thing in the whole world and proceeded to practically choke on the grape she was eating. "I guess Iryna feels the same way. Actually though, it's about Vasch and friends. Specifically Roderich. And _no_ , Vlad, I haven't fallen madly in love with him yet." Well, at least she was blaming Vlad for it now. "Supposedly, Vasch wanted to work on the German project at, like, Starbucks or something."

"You mean Starfucks," Dimitri corrected, quoting one of their several inside jokes.

"Yes, yes, sorry. He wanted to work on the project at Starfucks. But apparently, Roderich said no because he thought Vasch was asking him out on, like, a date or something. Because he's, quote unquote, 'not gay'."

"There's nothing wrong with that!" cried Vlad, who suddenly blushed like a madman.

"I don't think he meant it like that," continued Erzsébet. "But yeah. Now Vasch is all embarrassed and shit and doesn't know what to do."

"Wow. Where'd you hear this juicy story, anyway?" Iryna asked, chiming into the conversation for the first time.

"Feliks Łukasiewicz." Figures. The boy was the biggest gossip in the school. Even more so than Amelia Jones, the self-proclaimed "gossip girl" in their grade.

Petra snorted. "I don't think Feliks is exactly the most trustworthy news source," she said.

"Believe me, I'm aware of that. I just figured y'all should be aware since, well, Vlad is flat-out convinced that Roderich is my boyfriend."

"Now wait a second! Iryna is equally guilty of this heinous crime! Blame her, not me!" the Romanian yelled.

"At least she apologized!"

And so that was how the rest of lunch went; a back-and-forth between Vlad and Erzsébet and her supposed undying crush on Roderich. It was just your everyday lunch with friends. Six peas in a strangely shaped pod: Petra, Štefan, Dimitri, Vlad, Erzsébet, Iryna. She knew how much her friends meant to her, and she also knew they were the most tight-knit group around, despite their total weirdness. Nothing would be able to break them apart.

Right?

…

Another day, another boring chemistry class.

Though Iryna had noticed that since Monday, when she was first paired with Emma Jansen, her third hour class had gotten to be much more fun. Emma was always talking about her brothers, Lars and Sebastién, and how fucking annoying they were sometimes. And in return, Iryna would talk about her younger siblings, Ivan and Natalya. 

Despite how different the two seemed, it was actually more accurate to say that they had quite a bit in common.

"I'm fairly sure both of them are gay. Actually, I know Lars is because he told me last year, plus he forced me to meet his boyfriend Matthew once. But Sebastién is a bit less obvious about it. No, I take that back, he's very obvious about it, it's just that he doesn't tell anyone. One time I was yelling at him to come down for dinner and I caught him watching gay porn on his laptop."

"Isn't he only 14, though?" Iryna asked in horror.

"Minor detail. It's honestly hilarious how mature Seb thinks he is, but in reality, he's the most immature kid around. I think Mathias may actually be more mature than him." Emma rolled her eyes.

At that moment, a yelp came from lab station 5. "Køhler, ya dumbass, ya supposed to pour the acid into the beaker, not all over your notebook!"

"Not my fault! It just tipped over!"

The girls snickered as Mr. Smith came over to the table for about the 50th time over the course of the lab to try to explain things to them. "So much for maturity," Iryna whispered in hysterics.

Emma opened her mouth to respond before Mathias, figuring he already had everyone's attention, proceeded announcing to the whole class, "Y'all are invited to a party at my house tomorrow. 152 Archer Court. Starts at 8. Free of charge."

That's when the whole class began to whisper frantically to each other. Going to a house party was a one-way ticket to being cool, and now they finally had a chance at the good life of popularity. Not that "the good life" was the one Iryna wanted, nor did she want to go to Mathias' house.

"I have a thing against house parties," Emma confided. "I'm fairly sure that's how Lars got addicted to weed a few years ago. Besides, I went to one at Amelia's during freshmen year since I knew Mei was gonna be there, and that was the most unpleasant experience of my life."

"Let me guess. Everyone got high and/or drunk and the police came. And then someone TP'd her house and her parents got really mad."

"You pretty much nailed all of that!"

So that's how Iryna decided she wasn't going to go to the party. She wasn't about to get drunk out of her mind to get a boy to notice her, and besides, she would most likely end up destroying her reputation at the party anyway. And after working so hard to keep it clean, she just wanted it to stay that way!

But little did she know her friends had other ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, 4 and a half months passed quickly. I'm so sorry for the delay! I forgot I had this chapter mostly finished. Oof.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to all who left kudos, I really appreciate it! Now let's pray the next chapter doesn't take forever and a year to come out.


End file.
